Signing Day Press Quotes
February 04, 2009 | Football
Feb. 4, 2009
GREENVILLE, N.C. - East Carolina University Head Football Coach Skip Holtz addressed members of the media Wednesday afternoon about the 2009 Football Signing Class. The following are selected comments:
Opening Comments:
"This is an exciting day for every football program around the country. They're having the opportunity to sign and release their class of 2009 and their last 12 months of hard work.
"I'm really excited about this class for a lot of reasons. There are 20 athletes that we are releasing today who are going to become a part of the program in the future. Everybody wants to talk about who is going to play, who is the best recruit in the class and everything else. Overall, I'm just really excited about the class for a number of reasons.
"I think it's one of the most talented classes we've brought in here. When you look at it top-to-bottom, it's also definitely the best class we've brought in from an academic standpoint in terms of GPAs and test scores and where the kids are at there. And I think this class has great character.
"In the last couple years we've kind of put a big class together and then had a lot of grayshirts and junior college transfers. We have had to wonder a little bit about who was going to get here in the fall.
"But this class is pretty much what you see is what you get. There are 18 high school players and two junior college transfers in this class. Out of the 20, 14 are from the state of North Carolina. Out of those 14, seven were in the Shrine Bowl. We also signed three from Georgia, one from Alabama, one from Virginia and one from Florida.
"We had 14 of these young men in camp, where we had them for a full day out on the field with the ball in their hands. That gave us the opportunity to make personal evaluations of them and not just where they were in terms of talent but also what type of people they were and how they interacted with others.
"When we sit down and look at it, we're looking, obviously, for academics and character. We are also trying to find a class that has speed, athleticism, toughness and height.
"One of the reasons that I look for height is that if you can find a 6-foot-2 safety, he can put on weight and move down to linebacker. You can also find a big linebacker who has the ability to move down to the defensive line. I think those are variables that are extremely positive."
On The Offensive Recruits:
"Overall I'm just really excited about the class. On the offensive side of the ball, we signed three receivers, tight ends, running backs and fullbacks, two offensive linemen and one quarterback."
On The Defensive Recruits:
"When you look at it defensively, we signed three defensive linemen (two interior and one defensive end), three linebackers and one safety. Some of those positions are a little bit of variable. When you look at an athlete like Michael Dobson, he's tremendously athletic and played an awful lot of tailback. He also has the ability to play some defensive back and could help fill some needs if he had to go over there."
On The Wide Receivers:
"Looking at each group individually, with wide receivers, the biggest need was speed. When you look at the three young men we signed, all three are from instate and were in camp. Right now Torrence Hunt has the fourth-fastest 55-meter time in the country. He's not very tall, but he has phenomenal speed.
"I think both Reese Wiggins and Michael Price have the chance to be really special players. They both have great speed and athleticism. I think a lot of people are going to end up finding out that one thing these receivers are going to bring to this class is great speed.
"That's one of the things that we lacked. We talked about how offensively we lacked a lot of big-play potential and that's what some of this speed at wide receiver can bring us."
On The Quarterback:
"At quarterback I think Rio Johnson has a chance to be special. If you really asked me to summarize him, I'd say he's probably a taller Patrick Pinkney. He's athletic. I don't really think he's a runner, but he's athletic enough to buy time and make some things happen in the pocket. When we had him in camp he was one of the most accurate quarterbacks I've seen since we've been here. I think he has a tremendous arm and a huge upside based on the type of person he is and the talent he has."
On The Offensive Linemen:
"At the offensive line position, the one from in-state is Will Simmons, who was in the Shrine Bowl. He's big and aggressive with the ability to play either guard or tackle. He's 6-foot-5 and has great size and range. I think his aggressiveness is what makes him so special.
"The other lineman is Jordan Davis, who is an aggressive player and is probably more of a guard. He's very much like Sean Allen in that he could be a center or a guard, but he's more of an interior player. I think Coach Shank has done a great job with the grayshirts and these two offensive linemen coming in."
On The Running Backs:
"At the running back position we signed one junior college player. Right now there are some question marks about how we're going to be at that position, how Dominique Lindsay is going to come back from his knee injury and if he is going to be his old self. We ended up taking a junior college player in Giavanni Ruffin, who is a very talented player from Virginia Beach. Some reports had him listed as the second-best junior college tailback. He brings some size at 210 pounds, some speed and some power. If he doesn't play this year, he does have a redshirt year. That's something that we'll consider if we need to, but I think he has talent to help this football team.
"Michael Dobson from Mount Airy is a very talented player. He's athletic, fast and a very physical player. I think he has a chance to be a running back or a defensive back. I promised him a shot at running back and he may never move from that position. He's just a very talented player.
"The other running back is DaMonte Terry, who was also in the Shrine Bowl. He's a bigger back, about 200 pounds, and he's a very physical player. He's probably more of a Brandon Simmons type of runner, if I was to compare him to somebody on the team."
On The Tight Ends:
"The tight end position is a position of need for us. We lost Davon Drew and J.R. Kraemer to graduation and Willie Smith moved from tight end to the offensive line. That gave us three losses at the tight end/fullback position. We signed three, who may be three of the better players in this class. The junior college player, Korey Reynolds, originally signed with Hawai'i and is here now. He's about 6-foot-2, 240 pounds and I think he can be a tight end, H-back or fullback type of player.
"Zico Pasut from Charlotte has a chance to really be special. He's about 6-foot-3 and 250 pounds, the prototype tight end. He has great speed and can run. With him at 250 pounds as a freshman, it's going to be a lot different for Mike Golden to develop a guy like that than a guy like Davon Drew, who started at 215 pounds. To see what Davon became and then to have Zico start at 250 pounds is exciting.
"I think Zico or Justin Jones are two guys who have a chance to break into the line-up as freshmen, just because of our need at that position.
"Justin Jones is tall, around 6-foot-8. At 6-foot-4, when I get to look up at him that excites me as a recruiting coach. He has a chance to really be a special player. He has a big body and the opportunity to use that big body in the passing game. He is also already around 250 pounds. He is one of the better basketball rebounders in the state of Georgia right now, averaging nearly 20 rebounds per game. When you watch him use that big body, it's not hard to see why. I questioned his shooting ability a little bit when I had to beat him in a game of H-O-R-S-E to get him to say he was coming to East Carolina. I don't know if he threw the game, or if he's just not that great of a shooter."
On The Defensive Recruits:
"On the defensive side of the ball, there are three interior linemen who were all in camp. Jimmy Booth from right here in Greenville is a 6-foot-2, 288 pound defensive lineman right now. I think he brings some strength, size and physicalness."
On The Defensive Linemen:
"All three of these players, Booth, Michael Brooks and Matt Milner were all in our shoulder pads and helmet camp, so we weren't just making an evaluation on their athleticism but also the type of pop they had. I think all three have a chance to really be special.
"I think Michael Brooks can really be a special, special player. He has a chance to come in and really make an impact for us as a couple others have in the last few years. When you look at our defensive lineman, we've played one true freshman in each of the last two years. Michael Brooks can be one of those types of players."
On The Linebackers:
"The linebacker position is the same type of situation we had at the offensive side. This football team needed linebacker, fullback and tight end-type of bodies. We didn't have enough 6-foot-2 to 6-foot-5 and 230 to 250-pound athletes.
"I think we signed three linebackers and a safety that can be really special. Kyle Tuder, from Augusta, Ga., is already enrolled in school. He's 6-foot-3, nearly 200 pounds, and has jumped right into the weight room and hasn't missed a beat. He's a tough competitor who I think really has a chance to make a contribution.
"Ty Holmes and Marke Powell are two players who are very special and I absolutely love.
"When I sit here and read these names I think of the home visits, the player's family and his personality. I really get excited about this entire group.
"Lamar McClendon was an instate player and took part in the Shrine Bowl. He's an athlete who was a strong safety, probably like Chris Mattocks. He could be a safety and then move down to be that nickel linebacker. I really think he could help us."
On The Kicker:
"There's also a kicker, Matt Millisor, who we're bringing in with this class. We had him in camp and watching his kickoffs was impressive. When we do our recruiting, we say if he's better than what we have, we need to bring him in and offer him a scholarship because that would improve our team. I don't think you can compare recruits against each other, but you have to compare them with what you already have on the team. If he's as good or better than what you have, than you have to recruit him.
"I think Millisor has a chance to make us a better kickoff team after watching him in camp. I also think he's got the ability to do all three as he is a punter, placekicker and a kick-off guy. We felt it was important to bring in a guy who has a chance to earn his stripes with Matt Dodge and Ben Hartman being seniors this upcoming year.
"Overall I'm really excited about the class. I think right now every college coach in the country is excited, either because it's over or because of what he brought in. I know right now from where I stand, I think this is the most talented class, and probably has the most character, of any that we've brought in. I think we've helped ourselves for the future. I'm really excited about watching these guys on the field in six months. I know they look good on paper and I know they're good people, but I'm anxious to get them out on the field to see how they're going to mature physically and mentally."
On The Importance Of ECU's Camps:
"It's very important. A lot of times they come to camp and you've already seen the film from their junior year. You've seen them run and hit and where they are from a physical standpoint. Once you have them in camp you can tell if they're coachable, what type of personality they have, if they intermix well with other people on the team, how fast and what size they really are and all those types of things.
"Having the opportunity to get them here, on our campus is huge. We had 14 of them here and had the opportunity to offer to them shortly after that. They committed early. This recruiting class, about 90 percent of it, has pretty much been done since September.
"They stuck with us. Some of them had the opportunity to leave as they were recruited by a lot of other people. But they committed to being here. I also think having them in camp is a huge asset in order to evaluate them.
"Everybody talks about recruiting stars. That's where so many people try to recruit or rank recruits. People grade recruiting classes based on where the recruiting gurus had them ranked and evaluated. But we don't recruit off the computer or off stars. I will recruit somebody who is not even on a website if he is in our camp and we can see him personally and see what he can do. If we think he can help us as a football team, than we're going to recruit him.
"If you look at some of our best players, like Davon Drew, C.J. Wilson, Van Eskridge, Jay Ross, Chris Johnson or Aundre Allison, they were all two-star athletes. They weren't some of the marquee players, but they came here and developed. I think having them in camp is a big reason you can project them. You had the opportunity to work with them one-on-one.
"I think that a player's willingness to be coachable is very important. This class is very talented, probably one of the most talented we've brought in here. But the key is not going to be their talent, but how they mature and develop as people, students and players over the next four years. That's what excites me so much about them. It's not just the talent, but it's some great kids who are going to work extremely hard. When I look at Kyle Tudor in the weight room right now, you can't tell him apart from some of the other linebackers who have been here for two years."
On The Large Number Of Recruits From Western Carolina:
"It's not something that we targeted this year. There are some years that are going to be a little bit better in different regions of the state than others. One year Charlotte may have 25 players who sign Division I scholarships and another year they may only have 10. I think it's not so much that we targeted that area.
"We have the state broken up into seven different segments and go into every high school in the state at least twice a year, whether they have a player or not. I think building those relationships is one of the reasons that when a coach does have a player, and you're the only coach that has been there every year, that coach calls you first.
"I think it's more just about where the players are in the state that you're going to chase than us saying we're going to take five out of the eastern part of the state. We target our players from instate and we offer them first. Once we finalize where we are instate we go out of state to fill in some of our needs and voids that we didn't fill from instate."
On The Local Recruits:
"Mike Price is 6-foot-1, only about 165 pounds right now being heavily involved in track, but brings speed and athleticism. We've had him in camp and had the opportunity to evaluate him next to a lot of other wide receivers and he was one who really stood out. We can't project him now at 165 pounds, but we have to think that when he's 195 or 200 pounds and really comes along physically, he's got a chance to really be something special. He catches the ball very well and has great ball skills. He was in a position in high school where offensively, his team didn't throw it as much as some others in the state, so he may not have had the numbers that other receivers do. But when he was here, I think he's a special player and a steal for us.
"It's the same thing with Jimmy Booth. He's a 6-foot-2, 288 pound player who can step inside. He's a great young man and hard worker with an eager attitude. I think he has a great work ethic. His future is ahead of him and is only going to get better and better. We took the mindset with him of could he come in and be the type of defensive lineman that we have now? We thought he could, so we took him. I think both of those players have a chance to be very special players in this program."
On What Player He's Most Excited About:
"That's hard because I've told every one of them that our mindset is that we're going to redshirt them. I think in order to build this program, that's the type of approach we have to have. I think we've averaged redshirting 18 and playing just two over the last four years.
"As I told them, though, just because you redshirt, doesn't mean that you can't be a great player here. Almost all of our best players, like Dwayne Harris and Davon Drew, were redshirted in our program.
"It's really hard and that's a question everybody asks. Who has a chance to make an immediate impact? I think you can look at one of the defensive lineman. I think some of the linebackers could play and a couple of the wide receivers have the talent to play. I definitely think the tight ends have a chance to come in here and play. I think who is going to play is not predicated on just their talent or how good they're going to be. Whether or not they play is mostly determined by the upperclassmen that are already here.
"If a freshman plays, it's because an upperclassmen gave them the opportunity. If a Rio Johnson were to step on the field it would be because Patrick Pinkney, Rob Kass and Josh Jordan aren't getting the job done. If they're getting it done and playing at that level, there's no need to play a freshman right now, no matter how good he is. Sitting him allows him to develop mentally and physical.
"A lot is going to be determined in spring practice. We have to look at how guys like Cliff Perryman, Matt Thompson, Melvin Patterson and Steve Spence are coming along and continuing to develop. We have to see what level they're going to be playing at. If they're playing at the level we need them to play at in order to be successful against our schedule, than we're going to redshirt the freshmen.
"I would imagine this class will be very similar to the others we have recruited. There may be one or two that have a chance to play. If you asked me today, I would say the biggest need for our team is at the tight end position and two, or all three, have a chance to step in and help us there."
